Thanks for the explanations Volpri. Yes, it was long, LOL, but a few comments really stood out for me like this one below. The buying, and especially in the afternoon, was just relentless. If you're looking for a pullback of a decent size, you're left forever waiting. Then you end up thinking its gone too high without a pullback, so too scared to get in, and are left with no position. Next comment that ties nicely with this is this one below. I like it because it covers all the scenarios. If you're scared to get in, you miss out on moves, but usually that fear comes from not being prepared for every scenario. Once you accept every outcome, and know what to do, things tend to fall into place better. In my own chart review, I am looking for areas where a trade fails after scaling in, and if loading up in the opposite direction also fails. This would entail that the first position should have been held a little longer. We of course don't want to blindly host a losing position, but any time you exit a position for a loss, in my mind at least, it means that the opposite side should now work. If you can't take the opposite side, perhaps it means the original direction might resume. (This is of course taking into account that you're not emotional about the trade or worried about the money. Exiting a trade is sometimes good for your mental well being, but it has no affect on where the market is going)
I might add to my previous comments on size that the volatility of the session, along with the directional slant, influences my size. Often on the open we will see strong directional moves with sharp moves. Often I will trade larger size in such scenarios. However, it can soon turn into a volatile wide range trading session. In such wide TR circumstances I prefer trading smaller, and averaging down as I see price probe back and forth and try to capitalize on the probing. Volatility for me, does require larger SL’s (to keep from getting whipsawed and getting jacked around.) and it generally means I start off with smaller size and average down if the traders equation indicates it is feasible to do so. I have to control risk by my “trading size” but also control losses by not having too tight of a SL’s. Otherwise, I can end the session with too many paper cuts that bleed my account out or too many big losses due to trading too large of a size.
Al Brooks talks of failed failures which gets folks into a mental frenzy..LOL. AN AVERAGED DOWN position that fails (such as not stopping on a retracement and resuming before reaching 70%) and one dumps the position with a loss then takes a position in the opposite direction (which is mentally untenable for most traders) AND IT fails you got a case of failed failures and those scenarios happen more often in broad TR’s or broad channels or high volatility. That is precisely why it is always good to be aware of the larger context. Are we in a BO? a channel? A TR? Is the volatility high or low? Are the channel and TR broad or tight?
Tom Brady and Bucs pull it off. 19 to 17. Bucs over his old team the Patriots. What if they had not practiced or honed their skills..hello. Trading is a lot like football. High performance. Must have a strategy and tactics or techniques. Learn how to adapt in a live environment. Learn to be calm under pressure. Practice ..practice..practice. Execution. Watch out for the rat poison. capitalize on MOM…etc…etc…etc.
Decided to look into this Al Brooks further. Watched a few of his youtube videos this weekend and one of them was about that subject. As a long-timer here, @volpri, do you know good thread or two in addition to your own that might show someone using Brooks?
I don't practice what the books say. But you can ask @padutrader. He has great admiration for Al Brooks. In fact, padutrader as a thread paying tribute to Al Brooks https://www.elitetrader.com/et/threads/tribute-to-brooks.355246/
I've "browsed" through the "tribute" thread and I haven't seen anything that looks like the stuff I saw on youtube this weekend. TBH, I don't believe padutrader understands Brooks 's method.
While true - I wouldn't qualify it as a "good" thread. Honestly I'd say Volpri's thread is the only one still active I'd use on ET when it comes to Brooks style. There is some older archive stuff like NoDoji's material but it isn't still running. I can point you towards some other stuff off ET if you care to PM me NumberZ.
Hard to know what he understands but Brooks does not teach a "method". He teaches how to understand the nature of price development, behavior and structure. From that understanding which takes a lot of time and work to achieve, a trader can test and develop his/her own trade plan. He offers suggestions how a scalper might do this or a swing trader might do that under defined technical conditions. Volpri does a good job at analyzing price to examine the principles of price behavior and how they can lead to a trade setup. You hear those speak of trend but what is the nature of the trend, is it freshly broken out, are the bars overlapping, are bulls buying closes, are bears selling closes? Do you know the difference between a big exhaustion bar vs a breakout bar? Do you know what a reversal looks like versus a consolidation? Do you understand market cycle? These are among the many things Al teaches. For those looking for a "method", Youtube is full of them or one can look for the guy standing next to a Lambo with a hot babe on his arm to teach you how to have your own Lambo. Learning to trade is hard and takes a lot of work and persistence both technical and personal. No one can do the work for you but Al is as good as it gets to teach understanding of price behavior. ET is full of people criticizing Brooks who have little to no idea what his work is about.
Hi Mickey, I've had cancer a couple of times as well... I take 5000 IU of vitamin D3 as an immune system enhancer every day now; this might be something to look into. Also it may be helpful to read up on beta glucan and cancer: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=beta+glucan+cancer as well as arabinoxylan and cancer: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=arabinoxylan+cancer beta glucan and arabinoxylan (BioBran/MGN-3) are inexpensive supplements; the docs who recommend them suggest taking only one of them, not both, to stimulate the immune system. Make your body as hostile an environment as possible for the cancer cells...